20 Minute Yoga Makeover - Power Beauty Sweat

This is a 20 minute yoga practice on an absolutely beautiful beach location. The production is great, as the colors are beautiful.
The workout has already been broken down by other reviewers, so I will just add a few comments. Sara is by herself on the beach. While this isn't a power yoga workout at all (despite the "sweat" in the title), I did it in the morning and it truly left me feeling awake and energized (which was a surprise.) Sara does a lot of twists and some strength work (side planks held for a while.) If you have wrist issues, you should skip the side planks, but the rest of the workout should be fine. Some of the poses Sara has you move your arms with your breath to try and "sweat" but while I didn't sweat, it did wake me up!
I look forward to doing this workout again, especially in the morning.

Instructor Comments:
Sara is very calm and gives good pointers. I have a few of her yoga workouts, and I enjoy her style of teaching.

Last fall, I was going through an exceptionally busy and time-crunched time that encroached on my exercise time. That period encouraged me to look for and find short workouts that would keep the practice of exercise going for me, even if I didnít keep up the intensity and/or time commitment. I looked at this video as one option in working toward that goal.

This workout is shot outdoors in a tropical setting. It is a beautiful setting. Sara does the workout on her own with no background exercisers. The music is instrumental and not very memorable. Her manner is fine; she gives good form pointers and speaks calmly. The sections of the workout include:

The workout was fine, but didnít make me work as hard as I wanted. I expected to sweat (given the name and the recommendations on the forum), but didnít. And, I didnít feel very stretched out. So, I guess I didnít feel like I had accomplished much.

In Power Beauty Sweat, instructor Sara Ivanhoe does not rely on a traditional series of sun salutations to build heat in the body; rather, she adds movement to standing postures to intensify. She begins in a seated position with a simple side stretch and twist, then moves to kneeling for a kneeling side stretch (gate pose) and side plank. From here, the practice evolves to standing postures, including fan pose, a standing twist, and chair--each pose is repeated with movement and then a twist to both sides. Balance work comes in the form of eagle pose, and then there is a series consisting of dog pose, lunge, runner's stretch, and cow (or bull) performed to both sides. Dolphin pose further strengthens the arm muscles, and finally, there is a lying hamstring stretch. As with all the practices in this series, Ivanhoe ends with a mudra--or yogic hand gesture--using a detoxification mudra here.

Despite the title, I felt only minimal sweat as a result of this practice; it definitely did not build as much heat as a power yoga routine. However, the large number of included twists felt wonderful for my spine, and the excellent hip openers felt great as well. Overall, this is a nice, short yoga routine for focusing on standing postures and streching the spine and hips.

Instructor Comments:
Instructor Sara Ivanhoe's personality in this practice is similar to her prior Crunch and Dummies videos: she is very down-to-earth, although some may find her language a bit patronizing at times.